Apple maintains its position as the world’s most valuable brand for the third year in a row, according to this year’s Brand Finance Global 500 study.

After Apple, the other positions in the Top 10 were filled out by Samsung, Google, Microsoft, Verizon, General Electric, AT&T, Amazon, Walmart, and IBM.

“What sets [Apple] apart is its ability to monetize [its] brand,” Brand Finance CEO David Haigh said in a statement. “For example, though tablets were in use before the iPad, it was the application of the Apple brand to the concept that captured the public imagination and allowed it to take off as a commercial reality.”

While one can take issue with Haigh’s inference that it was simply slapping an Apple logo on the iPad that made it the leading tablet on the market (and not, you know, the device’s quality, support, and iOS ecosystem), it is still interesting that Apple should be able to take the number one spot on the list despite manufacturing relatively few products — certainly in comparison with runner-up Samsung, which makes everything from blenders and dishwashers to tablets and smartphones.

Brand Finance’s Global 500 2014 valued Apple’s brand at $104.7 billion — up from the $87.3 billion it was valued at on the comparative list in 2013.

The U.S. had the world’s largest number of valuable brands, with 185 — far ahead of next in line Japan which had 49.

About the author

Luke Dormehl is a UK-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems, And Create More and The Apple Revolution, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme, and other publications. He'd like you a lot if you followed him on Twitter.

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